I subscribe to the Firerescuefitness.com email blasts and got the email for this workout the other day. Since I had no plans for my daily workout I thought I would give it a try.
THIS WORKOUT IS A BUTT KICKER!!!! It is perfect for the Firehouse enviroment, it requires minimal equiment, and is high intensity and it goes as fast as you can go.
The Workout:
Squat to press (50 reps)
One arm rows (25 reps each, 50 total)
Sumo Bicep Curls (50 reps)
Tricep Skulls (50 reps)
V-ups (50 reps)
Hands on Ball Push-ups (50 reps)
You time yourself and if you want to make the workout more challenging add a 1 mile run, or 3 mile bike as fast as you can!
My time was 14:54 (without the run or bike) and I was whipped afterward and sore the next day.
So do yourself a favor and try this workout today! Also head over to http://www.firerescuefitness.com/ and check them out. They have A LOT of valuable information on workouts, nutrition, etc. They also have Podcasts to listen to, and a Facebok page.
When you do the workout post your times in the comments section, or on my twitter feed @averagejakeff
Also one of the best ways to see what others are doing out there is to get on twitter and look up the twitter hashtag #FSWFitness. Most of the Fire Service Warrior Crew and followers post each and every workout they do there and it is a great resource for motivation.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word and STAY SAFE!
Well I did it! I completed the 2013 20th Anniversary Disney World Marathon! It is crazy to think that just two years ago I was a fat, out of shape, who had never ran more than a few miles, to having rededicated my self to fitness and running various 5k’s,10k’s,Tough Mudder,a half marathon, and a full marathon.
While training for this event, and while running it I found out some things about me, and some observations about people in general.
1. I will never be an Elite Runner: Being as competitive as I am it is hard participating in something that I know I have zero chance to win. It took me, 5hours and 43 mins to complete the marathon, 1 hour and 59 mins to complete the Half Marathon (that I ran earlier this year). This is far from elite status, and to be honest I could train forever and NEVER get to the point where I am a truly competitive runner. However what I do hope to accomplish is becoming an Elite Firefighter. All of the fitness, training, reading, conferences, etc. are pushing me toward that status. Will I ever get there? I do not know, but doing things like this will hopefully get me there. It is a long road that is ever-changing, but it is a journey that is in my opinion worth while.
2. Fitness is something different to everyone: As I walk around the gym, various road races, and read fitness blogs/websites you see thousands upon thousands of people. Each of these people have a different definition of what fitness is. To some it is running a marathon, to others it is benching 300lbs, to some it may be as simple as walking a mile and not getting out of breath. The important thing is that we make strides to be healthier. My fitness goals lie on the fireground. I want to be able to take my body to its maximum potential on the fireground. So full body fitness, functional fitness, cardio, etc. are my goals. Benching 300lbs would help in some aspects but rarely am I ever flat on my back with an evenly balanced weight over me. I am always operating at odd angles, and wearing full PPE. I may never make the cover of muscle and fitness, or a pin-up calender but show muscle does not get you through the fireground.
Those are just a few of the things that went through my head and have been going through my head for a while.
Here are a few pictures from the Marathon:
At the Health & Fitness EXPO
At the starting corral
Mile 20 (Celebration during all of mile 20 since this was the 20th Anniversary of the Marathon)
Mile 25, 1.2 miles to go hurting but ready to be done.
The Medal at the end, a lot of sacrifice has paid off!
Overall I am glad I did it, and of the many people I have to thank, none are higher on the list than my wife Karen. While I might have joked that this was all her fault in reality I am glad she brought this up, and that we trained and did it together.
Also here is a video on the insight of a marathon runner:
Seriously though, I would recommend a Run Disney event to anyone. It is perfect for multi time marathoners and first timers.
So get out there, pick a goal and get to work! If I can do it anyone can.
So as usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
As i have said many many times on this blog, I hate working out. I flat-out hate it, every mile I run, every weight I lift none of it is fun for me. I do it because the job requires a high level of fitness, and I want to be the best I can be for my family, the people I work with, their families, and of course the citizens we serve. I would never be able to live with my self if my fitness level was the reason someone died. There are many factors we can not control on the fireground, but your physical fitness is one of them, if you are not in shape you have no one to blame but you.
With that being said I do love competition, and accomplishment and today I got to experience both of those.
This morning at 7:45 am I stepped off on my very first Half Marathon. This madness started as a part of my wifes brilliant idea to run a full marathon at Disney World in January of 2013. I didn’t want to run a full without ever running a half so we did some reasearch and found one that fit our schedule.
It was a long, hard, chilly, yet satisfying. Most of my training runs at this distance had been in 2 hour 15min range, so I had tempered expectations. However for some reason my pace was a lot faster than the training runs, and at the end of the day I finished with a time of 1hour 59mins and 9 secs!!!! While it was not by much I ran a sub 2 hour Half Marathon! This was a major accomplishment for me, and I was very happy to do so well. Even better about 28mins later my wife crossed the finish line and I was glad I got to see her and cheer for her while she finished up.
Here are a few pics.
All in all it was a good day. Like I said in the beginning this is not fun for me, I didn’t enjoy it. I do not get this euphoric feeling from working out or running races. However it is important, if firefighting is a house then fitness is the foundation of that house. Even if you do not care about yourself do it for the guys you work with, the citizens you serve, your family, your co workers family find some reason to get into shape. Your goal doesn’t have to be getting on a pin-up calender, or even running a personal best race. It should be for fireground performance, and to be healthy enough at the end of your career to enjoy the retirement you earned. It is never to late to start, SO START TODAY!
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
There are 2 articles recently posted on the Fire Service Warrior (www.fireservicewarrior.com) that in my opinion are articles everyone needs to read as they are some definitive writings when it pertains to Firefighter Fitness. They are,
I’ll let you read these on your own but they are as I said definitive works on realistic firefighter fitness. If you have ever read the blog you know my fitness story. It has changed my life! Not only on the fireground and the job but I feel better my last yearly physical at work all of my lab values were awesome, my weight is under control, I feel better, I actually ran 13 miles the other day and didn’t die. It has only translated to better fireground performance.
It is beyond time that the fire service gets the message. As Chris Brennan says we are occupational athletes! Our number 1 killer is heart disease. If you are not able to operate at a minimum MET rate of 12 (which coincidentally the same output as a proboxer, or combat diver) then you can not do the job end of story. This is not a call out or cruelty it is REALITY! Part of brotherhood is being able to give an honest assessment of yourself and your crew.
If you are a total of 400lbs in all of your PPE I can not help you if you go down in a fire. Are you prepared to not only kill yourself but kill your crew? You know the crew will never leave you can you look at their children, their wives, their parents and honestly say that you do not care enough about the people around you to get into shape? If you do not care about yourself then do it for your family and your crew.
Do not put it off START TODAY there are literally thousands of fitness plans out there. There is also a ton of support out there in social media via twitter and Facebook. Get out there and get to work no excuses!
A big shout out to the Fire Service Warrior guys. They are far better writers, instructors, and bloggers than I ever could hope to be. I am just glad to say that I have met a few of them. If your not frequenting their site you are missing out.
Thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Lets face it there is always a lot of focus on the Special Service Companies in the fire service. You always seem to hear people talking about searching, ropes, forcing entry, venting etc. It dominates our training menu sometimes and it dominates a lot of our fitness routine. However the Engine Company is the back bone of everything we do.
The Engine Company is the offensive line of the fire service. Guys on the engine do all the dirty work, and never get much of the glory. It is always those “other guys” who are well rested (cause they are not up running EMS calls), and there show muscles (cause they have a TON of time to work out) who get all the attention. We all know that without a well-trained and in shape engine company those guys would be crying for mama!
I kid, I kid, but seriously a lot of the focus is on things NON Engine sometimes, even out fitness. The above video is a great circuit workout that not only focuses on fundamental tasks of the engine, but fitness as well. All it takes is some hose, your PPE/SCBA, and some resistance. These guys use tires, but you can use sandbags, plate weights, whatever you have, it just takes some creativity and dedication.
Thanks to these guys for sharing this workout with the world, so that we can all benefit from it.
As usual, thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Above you will find the link to the 2012 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb in Richmond Virginia. If you do not know what the Stair Climb is, it is an event that raises money for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to assist with the families of our fallen brothers. Additionally this money goes tot he FDNY Counseling Unit that is run almost completely on donations. It is also your chance to remember the 343 firefighters that were murdered on 9/11/01 when the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center.
Most every one had or has a “Never Forget” shirt, sticker, or hat, now is the chance to put your money where your mouth is and truly honor our brothers by climbing 110 stories with one of the fallens picture with you.
Still do not want to climb? Brian Brush from www.fireservicewarrior.com explains in this video why you should climb and why there are no excuses.
Brian is dead on! We have thousands of firefighters just in the Metro Richmond area, can you think of any reason why thousands of firefighters who promised to never forget, would not be fighting to be a part of this event? Can you think of any reason why all 343 members names of the fallen should not be represented by a firefighter from this area?
Now is the time to show if you are really a firefighter and apart of this brotherhood or if you are just talking. Participating in this event is literally walking the walk of brotherhood.
Like Brian says in the video, if you do not feel you can make the climb send in your $25 and I will carry your firefighters photo with me. I will do Brian one better though, there is a ton of time to get ready for this climb so I am making the offer to anyone who is willing to take it to come and train with you. I will even organize group workouts if enough interest is shown. So email me, tweet me, comment on the blog with you contact info and I will come train for this climb with you!
It is not about racing, it is not about athletic accomplishment, it is about honor, and respect to our fallen brothers. Every firefighter in America promised to never forget the sacrifice the 343 made, are you ready to keep that promise?
Print this flyer off and put it up in your firehouse, sign up for the climb, and climb with 343 of your brothers on September 9th 2012 and make sure you keep the promise we all made to the 343, not by just talking about it, but by showing that we have not and will never forget them, or there families.
You can bet NOTHING will keep me away from this event, and will be on the stairs on Sept. 9th 2012!
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
As the summer months are upon us the temperature is beginning the sky-rocket. If we are not prepared this can have an adverse affect on our operations and our overall health.
For our normal duty shifts our preparation is actually quite simple. Stay hydrated, ensure proper rehab, and rotate crews effectively. For Incident Commanders ensuring that adequate manpower (engines, ladders, ambulances, etc.) are available.
However if you are going to be participating in an intensive training class (HTR, recruit school, live burns) during these summer months some extra preparation is necessary. You have to expose yourself to this heat stress under physical activity several weeks prior to the training program in order to acclimate your self to the stress of operating in high temperatures.
In addition to that we need to ensure that as a part of our regular physical fitness regimen we are including our PPE. Lets face it running, and lifting are great but we perform in the elements and in PPE/SCBA. This will truly tell us how ready we are for our job on the fireground. When we get a fire is not the time to figure out we are not ready.
Like Chris Huston over at www.engineco22.net says “We can not control how many fires we run, but we can control how ready we are for the ones we do run”
So in short, prehab, workout, rehab, train and be ready! The summer months are challenging for firefighters, yet the calls keep coming in. It is our JOB to be ready to meet the needs of every incident, every citizen, and our fellow firemen.
Another thing to be aware of though is the danger level associated with operating in the heat. Even though we have to be ready and we can not say “no it is to hot” we should have the ability to adjust our response based on the dangers of heat. It gets hot every where but especially here in the South humidity is a large concern. Enough humidity can make a 90 degree day feel like 100 and that presents its own unique problems.
This is just one of the many “charts” or guides that you can use to determine how you need to limit your outdoor exertion. Like I said we still have to work even in the danger environments but knowing the danger ahead of time can assist use in calling the appropriate resources, and ramping up our rehab needs. It is imperative that the company officer determine the predicted weather patterns at the beginning of each shift/tour of duty. This will allow the company officer to make important tactical decisions, and determine proper crew rotation and resources.
The summer months are tough, are you and your company ready?
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
They look like they are just getting off the ground but they already have some great workouts on the site. Just another resource for us to continue on the path to the fitness level we need to perform the critical functions of our job at the high level that our citizens expect from us.
Remember that not one workout is one size fits all and do things that will work for you. The route you take does not matter what matters is the end result. No matter what you do though in order to achieve the level of fitness we need hard work, and dedication are mandatory.
You are not alone! You may be the only one at your station working out but all you have to do is go under the hashtag #fswfitness and you will see a ton of your brothers and sisters posting their workouts. Also on several sites (Fireservice Warrior, Crossfit.com, Sealfit.com) they have forums fo you to discuss you fitness goals, and ask questions. So like I said you are not alone in this journey, the internet has given us the ability to share our passion, and resources with EVERYONE! Some call it the “network”, to others it is just brotherhood. No matter what it is to you it is there USE IT! NO EXCUSES START TODAY! IT WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE! Like Chris Huston from the Engine Co. 22 Blog said Nothing Worth Doing Is Easy http://engineco22.net/2011blog/?p=258
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
